we'll see you for the next "inside story" in washington, i'm ray suarez. arthur rope europe on 5-dollar as day. it was the book that changed the way we travel. >> i was four months old when i first went to europe, and there weren't even porta cribs. and now his daughter pauline have published hundreds of books about the word's best known tourist destinations and some of it's hidden gems.

former pioneer, but the father and daughter pair have also kept abreast of the changes in the travel industry. i spoke to arthur and pauline, at the al jazeera america studios in new york. they don't always get the same flavor, you fist saw europe in 1953 i was drafted in the army in europe at the time of the korea war, and to my great good portion i was sent to europe. >> blatche

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. you are watching "talk to al jazeera." i am speaking with argumethur and pauline frommern. the ability to earn a living wage, you have written . the ability to earn a living wage, you have written. between the time you arrive, you are going to pass by a lot of people working at that airport who do not earn -- who may be earning minimum wage. >> right. >> in the state in which they are in? >> to my amazement, i discovered this is the situation in laguardia and jfk airports, there are all sorts of people who clean the inside of the planes who act as security guards who are earning the minimum wage of $320 a week, which is not a living wage in new york city.

and i feel badly that we, as tourists, as travelers, are traveling on their backs so to speak. the minimum wage must be increased in the united states. it eventually will be, and the sooner the better? >> it's not just the people who work in the airports. it's the people who work in the airplanes, a beginning pilot makes what did we learn? >> a regional pilot. >> a regional pilot. >> earning 40 dollars a year, which is much too little. >> yeah. there is going to be a pilot short a.m. in the near future because they can't get enough people to accept that wage for the amount of training and responsibility that it takes to be a pilot. people think are you are more sophisticated than you are except when i talk about the fact that i really like cruises. >> you like cruises? >> oh. you are getting me a little

upset here there are good cruises and bad cruises. unfortunately, there is a trend in the cruiseship industry to -- >> large buildings. >> into amusement parks. cruise. i love to go on a cruise to enjoy the storied cleze pleas user of a cruise and to like down in a chaise lounge and glory in the expansiveness of the ocean. i love to have good conversations with other intellectually curious people. i love to hear lectures. there are some of the big ships today that do not even carry a library in them. spoken. >> you. >> i am out spoken and disliked by a great many cruiseship officials which i say that i don't look upon why capital it doc on the west side of manhattan?

money. >> it is strange the trend has been away from the more curiated, smaller cruises into these giant massive things several stories? >> not everywhere. not everywhere. exploding. >> right? >> that is tiny ships, lectures, all about culture. >> that's true. >> that's true? >> i think that shows there is an appetite for this. >> you are less anti-cruise? >> i am a mom of two. so, you know, my kids love them. and i get to read the novel because they are on the bungee jumping or whatever they are doing. >> yeah. my father and i disagree on. >> let's speak about enter general rangeal traveling, three generations traveling together common today. what's the best thing for families to do? >> i have been against inter generational travel. >> we went on a whole inter is

he generational trip you insisted on? >> the children were 10 or 11 or 12 years old. the idea of traveling with children who are under the age of 6 is to travel with somebody who does not have the same interests as you have who ruins your own vacation i am when we took you to koppen hagan all you wanted to do was go on a carnival and fun rides but i wanted to go into the museums. >> see, this is where we did he ever. we are running the guide books together now. it's a family-owned business and we differ and i think you see books. but i find traveling with my children opens doors. i was in japan with my little tiny 10 month old and, you know, the japanese can sometimes be a little formal, especially with people who aren't japanese. we were welcomed everywhere. people wanted to hold the baby. people wanted to meet us. we were invited into people's homes. without that baby, we would have been outsiders. so, i see an upside to it.

>> you do both, i think, share a view about being invited into people's homes, into connecting with locals, asking your friends if they know people in those cities. enough friend with friends in foreign cities it will be the best dinner stockholm. we pestered our friends to learn the names of people they knew who lived in stockholm. i like that type of travel t i look upon -- >> a reader? >> as being intellectually curious, someone who is interested in getting to the bottom of the culture, the politics, the lifestyles of different countries around the world. south they do that or read the book on the plane? >> we suggest in page 1 of our book that they spend a few

nights in the library before they leave in case they don't, we have been telling our riders, don't put the history into the history section. put it in the hotel reviews because it should be about the fact that you have traveled a long way from home, and you could have a life changing experience if you understand the context of the place you are in? >> because of that, they are different brooks. our london writers says don't go to the changing of the guard. they play abba tunes now. it's not that majestic experience

now. >> there are bigger things to do. i am the money guy here i want to talk about the money part. at some point, you went from europe on $5 a day to $10 a day and you had a big jump. >> we went up and up and up until we had to drop it. we realized there were people with broader viewpoints who wanted to spend more money. we now -- we now recommend the expense of as well as the -- the expensive as well as the budget. we have limits there. i don't think we ever have recommended al hotel that charges as much as 7 a$7,800 a night for a double room. we look for value. >> this is much more common. on one hand, the internet allows you to get better deals. on the other hand, hotels control center expensive. it's given birth to a whole slew of other options, including staying in people's homes and air b and b. you have written extensively. >> those are a major part of our guide books. there is a major trend that

finds millions of americans substituting apartments and homes. >> that's such a unmistakable. they permit you to stay in a residential neighborhoodna in an apartment or in a home. controversy? >> absolutely. >> in new york, there are some people who are up in arms. i go back to my fine lecuriated apartment and there is somebody staying, renting somebody's about. >> there are some people who are arguing that it hurts the housing stock, it takes too many residents. >> because it makes these inter rental stock? >> i don't know. from my personal experience, everybody i know who does it needs the money. we live in an expensive city in new york city. i have friends who leave their apartment for a week, and that month. >> do you like this development? >> i do like the development.

i find that it opens up a great storehouse of accommodations to people who cannot afford normal hotel rates. >> one of the things that i am spending a lot of time on this year is a real study of the middle class and, to some degree, the hollowing out of the middle class in america and why that's dangerous. for that audience, for that family that feels that it's a struggle, we meet so many of parent -- two parents working, and they don't feel that they can afford a family vacation. what do you suggest? >> national parks. the greatest value, the greatest riches of this country are in our national parks. and inmy kids would much rather camp out than go to a hotel. there are also hostels. >> sounds like i am putting somebody down. but hostels have gone eons from what they used to be like. >> in terms of standards? >> the standards, in terms of design. some of them are very glamorous. san francisco in

a setting that a million dollars hotel couldn't get. they have family rooms. and you go down for breakfast and your kids are surrounded by teens from all over the world, prese 20s. they love it. >> what countries are on arthur and paulinets bucket list? real reporting that brings you the world. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi.

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ali velshi. my guests are arthur frommer who has published travel guides more than five decades and his daughter, pauline. where have you been that you have not been? >> i never got to tibet before the chiep easy more or less closed up your ability to visit tibet. itch not been to sri lanka or ant arctica because i am worried of being sea sick. i am continuing to travel, continuing to try to discover new places and to recommend the new and the untouristy dest nations in the world today. or those dest nations who's currencies have plummeted against the u.s. dollar. deal? >> that's right. fortunately, we tourists take advantage of others people's misfortunes. >> if your economy is such that your kurns cease has been devalued, they are happy they

are getting tourists. >> tourism fills up. there are so many countries where this is the case today. i have written a great deal about bali and the indonesia rupia. it has plunged by 30% in the last several months against the u.s. dollar. i talk about the fact here is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a true tropical paradise in bali for very little money. >> argentina has recentl experienced this as well. japan's currency is now selling at much more moderate rate than ever before. the indian dollar. >> pauline, i will ask you if you could recommend to our audience one destination to consider that might not have been on the radar, what would that be. >> it depends who they are. for families with slightly older

children, not toddlers, belize is pretty darn incredible. you do things there that would be illegal here in the united states because they would be too worried about insurance issues. you swim into caves and climb up ladders until you come to rooms which have priceless artifacts in them from when the mayans driver's license human sacrifices there secenturies ago yet they are calcified and there are human bones from the sacrifices. within the u.s., new orleans. everybody knows about new orleans. >> but not everybody knows you can go there and have a great time and while they are still struggling with some things, it remains a remarkable and sup a different tourist destination than so much in america. >> so much that's interesting there has to do with their struggles. you can take tours of where the levies broke and the money goes to people struggling with those issues. you can go to one of the best history museums in the united

states, the world war ii museum, which is staffed by volunteer docents, many of whom are veterans of world war ii. >> the nation of policiand is visited by a great many americans but they tends to be americans of polish descent to stay with relatives. they do not compete with you for the hotel space of poland. there are very few standard tourists who go to poland. cities? >> it is the exception. it should be visited but so should warsaw. so should gadansk. fascinating cities where the costs are a third lower than they would be in western europe and you see works of great art, fabulous architecture, some of which is recreated because the nazis leveled poland but a surprising destination. country. >> yes. >> for many, many decades. >> definitely.

>> arthur and pauline frommer of the frommer guides, i am ali velshi, and you have been >> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top story. mending fences. with a key middle east ally, president obama spends the day in saudi arabia, and takes a call from the return president. weather works against the mudslide recovery efforts. >> i think the report will stand the test of time. >> a di after one report clears chris christie, he said he knew nothing about bridge gate